Top Valley Chefs Serve Up Favorite Dishes in Support of the Arts

(SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.) – Tickets are now on sale for Dine Out with the Chefs: A Celebration of the Culinary Arts on October 5, 2008, at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. Created by author Pamela Swartz, the mouth-watering event celebrates the Valley’s exciting dining scene and is a must for anyone who loves food. Now in its third year, it has become one of the most prestigious epicurean events in Arizona, attracting the top chefs in the Valley.

Advance tickets are available for $75 through the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts box office at (480) 994-ARTS (2787). Tickets at the door are $85. Capacity is limited, and advance tickets are highly recommended. Proceeds from the event benefit the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts’ youth education and outreach programs.

Dine Out guests will have the opportunity to meet 17 extraordinary chefs from the Valley’s finest restaurants and to sample their culinary creations, from delicious soups, salads and appetizers to some of their signature dishes and most decadent desserts. The participating chefs and restaurants include: 

• Executive Chef Eric Howson, Alto ristorante e bar (at Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch)
• Chef/Owner Carolyn Ellis, Arcadia Farms
• Executive Chef Justin Beckett, Canal
• Pastry Chef Tracy Dempsey, Confection
• Chef Payton Curry, Digestif
• Executive Chef Ron Dimas, Estate House
• Chef Matthew Contreras, Foodbar
• Executive Chef Michael Rusconi, Lon’s (at the Hermosa Inn)
• Executive Chef Bernie Kantak, Mexican Standoff
• Chef/Owner Erasmo “Razz” Kamnitzer, Razz’s Restaurant
• Executive Chef Jon-Paul Hutchins, Scottsdale Culinary Institute (L’Ecole and L’Academie)
• Executive Chef Nobuo Fukuda, Shell Shock
• Head Baker Jeffrey Yankellow, Simply Bread
• Executive Chef Lee Hillson, T. Cook’s (at the Royal Palms Resort & Spa)
• Executive Chef Mel Mecinas, Talavera (at the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North)
• Chef de Cuisine Robert Sanchez, Windows on the Green (at the Phoenician)
• Executive Chef Matt Carter, Zinc Bistro

Dine Out with the Chefs will feature author Pamela Swartz signing her brand new edition of Dine Out Phoenix: Where to Eat from Chic to Unique as well as a wine tasting, premium vodka and tequila tasting, premium beer tasting courtesy of Hensley, live music by Rakata and a cash bar.

Dine Out with the Chefs is produced by Pamela Swartz and the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts and is sponsored by 99.9 FM KEZ, 95.5 FM KYOT, Barnes & Noble, China Mist Tea, Dry Soda Co., Fairytale Brownies, FIJI Water, Green Valley Pecan Co., Infiniti, Hensley, Simply Bread, Snow Queen Vodka, Sol de Mexico and Pamela Swartz/Cloud Nine Press.

LOCATION AND PARKING
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts is located at 7380 East Second Street in downtown Scottsdale, four blocks south of Indian School Road and three blocks east of Scottsdale Road. Free parking is available in the public parking garage located to the west of Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts and directly behind Los Olivos restaurant on Wells Fargo Avenue. Additional free parking is available at the Old Town Parking Corral at East Second Street and Brown Avenue and at the Civic Center Library parking garage located on Drinkwater Boulevard at East Second Street.

SCOTTSDALE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Opened in 1975, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts presents a dynamic, culturally diverse season of dance, jazz, classical and world music, theater and satire. Approximately 1,000 performances, educational programs, festivals and other events are showcased annually serving more than 300,000 people and contributing substantially to Scottsdale’s high quality of life and vibrant arts scene. Performances take place in the Center’s 838-seat Virginia G. Piper Theater (closed for renovation during the 2008-09 season) and 136-seat Stage 2 as well as the 2,200-seat amphitheater on the grounds of the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall and the 326-seat Theater 4301 in the Galleria Corporate Centre. The Center’s youth education and outreach programs reach more than 40,000 school children each year, and its free programs are available to the entire public. Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts also produces the popular Scottsdale Arts Festival every March; Sunday A’Fair, a series of free outdoor music festivals held on Sunday afternoons from January to April; and Native Trails, a collaboration with the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau that features free demonstrations of Native American arts and culture from January to April. Open daily and during performances, The Store @ Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts offers hand-crafted jewelry, accessories for the home, toys for imaginative young minds, recordings, books, greeting cards and more.

The Scottsdale Cultural Council, a private nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, is contracted by the City of Scottsdale, Arizona, to administer certain City arts and cultural projects and to manage the City-owned Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and Scottsdale Public Art Program. The programs of the Scottsdale Cultural Council are made possible, in part, by the support of members and donors and grants received from the Arizona Commission on the Arts through appropriations from the Arizona State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

HOW TO REACH US
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
7380 East Second Street
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Box Office: (480) 994-ARTS (2787)
TDD: (480) 874-4694
Web: www.scottsdaleperformingarts.org
E-mail: info@sccarts.org
Fax: (480) 874-4699